Sidney yankauer



S. YANK'MER;

mum. THERIIflMETER.

Patented May 30, I899.

man filed June 7. 1895.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES: I

ATTORNEYS m: Noam vzrzas 120., wnmou'rnou WASHENGTQ "-water for the 3 isa section on line 33 of Fig. 1.

SIDNEY YANKAUER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLlNlCAL THERMOMETER SPECIFICATIQK forming part of Letters Patefit'No.

626,124, dated May 30, 1899.-

Application filed June 7, 1898. semi No. 682,813. (No model.)

To rtZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIDNEY YANKAUER, residing in the city'of New' York,borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Clinical Thermometers, of.whichuthe following is a specification. Myinvention relates tothermometers, more especially to that class of t herm ometers known' asclinical thermometers.

My invention has for its object to construct a thermometer which iscapable of being safely heated to a point beyond that marked by thehighest point of the scale-tube for the purposes of sterilization andother purposes, so

that the thermometer, which'can be'used in the ordinary manner, may beboiled for the purpose of sterilizationwithout danger of breaking thesame and which will not be broken by a careless immers'on in hot Water.

Broadly speaking, the inve tion consistsin a thermometer having aconstriction or registering device and a vacuumeXpansion-chamber.communicatingwith the momelter, into which chamber the mercury canexpand when the thermometer is unduly heated withoutdanger of breakingthe th'ermometer,-which expansion-chamber is'of such form as to insurethe ready return of the mercury to the scale-tube.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a thermometer embodying my.invention, which structure is, as far as I have been able to determine,the most efiicient form in which my invention may be clothed.

In the drawings, Figurel is a front view of a thermometer embodying. myinvention, showing the same in its normal condition.- Fig. 2 is asimilar view thereof, showing the same as itwill appear when dipped inboiling purposes of sterilization. Fig. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailView of the upper endof the scale-tube and the expansion-chamber, andFig. 5 is a fragmentary side view of apart of the tube containing theregistering constriction.

In the drawings, a is a bulb of thethermometer, containing an expansibleliquid,

bore of the ther-.

sure therein as will thermometers thus tard the fl:ow of mercury illtilt} tube. The,

bore of the scale-tube is lettered c and the expar1sio-npl1amber d,which in'the present instance is shown as a'grad ually-taper'ed conicalchamber constituting anextension of the bore of the scale-tube c. Theapex of the cone communicates with thescale-tube, and the chamber ismade of this form in order that the mercury may be readily returned tothe scale-tube, as the surface tension of the mercury is so great thatif a shoulder were formed at c it would be difficult, if not impossible,to shake the mercury back'into the scale-tube after the thermometer hadbeen sterilized by boiling. This chamber d may be .blown in thethermometer at any convenient stage in the construction of the same,and, it in poway interferes with any 'of the procedures necessary to theconstruction of the thermometer. The bore of the tube is of suchdiameter as to'support the mercury therein from flowing by its ownweight. For the want of a better term I call such a tube a capillarytube. The expansion chamber is exhausted of air. By exhausted of air I'do not necessarily mean entirely exhausted, as such eifect isnotpracticable, but only exhausted to such a press drive the same in thescale-tube. The amount of mercury contained in the thermometer is suchthat at clinical t'em peratu' res (90 to 115 Fahrenheit) the mercurystands high in the scale-tube, as is usual in clinical thermometers,'sothat it will effect'a normal regist'ryat clinical temperatures, and-thetotal volume of mercury is such that at a boiling temperature (212 0rthere'about) the said-volume will not not be effective to over-. cometheisurface tension of the mercury to ez'zceed the volume of'theinterior spaces (bulb-bore and expan ysioh-chamber) of the thermometer.

It Will be readily apparent that clinical constructed have man Jadvantages, chief among which are: Acciden talimmersion in'hot watercannot break the thermometer. Thethermometercanbe boiled, thereby.sterilizing it. Many important results flow from'these advantages, ,as'it is an established fact that the mouth of an apparently healthy personcontains a great variety of bacteria, even such as cause certaindiseases, such as diphtheria and pneumonia.

The specific virus of most acute infectious diseasessuch as scarletfever, measles, yellow fever, diphtheria, tonsilitis, c.-and of syphilisand tuberculosis are contained in the mouth of the person suffering;from such diseases, and the germs of typhoid: fever,

dysentery, anthrax, cholera, typhus, &c., are contained in the rectum ofthe patient. A

thermometer which has been inserted into the mouth of a person sufferingfrom one of the above and other diseases becomes a carrier of infectionto healthy persons unless the ther lllQlllOtClbGStGllllZOtl.Notonlyfortheabove reasons, but for purposes of ordinary cleanliness,aclinical thermometer should be carcfullysterilizedafteruse.Apracticingphysician finds it (lillicult to carry around with him properapparatus for sterilizing a therdo is to procure boiling water and dipthe thcrm om eter therein.

Having described my invention, what- I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent,

In a clinical thermometer, the combination of a bulb, eontainingas-mallquantityofmercury, a tube leading therefrom of suificiently smalldiameter-to prevent the-column of'm ereury therein from flowing by itsow-n'weight in any position of the thermometer, a constriction in saidtube near the bulb, sufiicicntly small to break the column atthis pointwhen the bulb cools and a funnel-. shaped expansion-elmmber at theextreme u )01 end of the tube normall eontainiin a vacuum of such lowpressure not to force the column of mercury past the constriction.

SIDNEY YANKAUER.

Witnesses;

Ciunucs ii. Sm'ru, O'r'ro v. Scunicxit.

